Podcasts have become massively popular over the last decade, with well over 850,000 active podcasts currently running.
Whatever your tastes or interests, there is surely a podcast about it run by like-minded people.
Podcasts are a brilliant way to learn new information about all your favorite subjects, or even be introduced to things you’ve never encountered before.
Better yet, they fit perfectly into our fast moving world. We may not always have the time to watch a video on a topic, but podcasts can teach us while we travel, walk, run, and so much more.
Thankfully, there are a few organizations that exist to support podcast makers in creating their invaluable content – and “The Podcast Academy” is one of the best of these organizations.
But what is “The Podcast Academy”? What sorts of things do they do to support the podcasting industry?
In our detailed review below, we’re going to look at “The Podcast Academy” and examine all the various things that they do to support creators so they can come up with their own successful podcast ventures.
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What Is The Podcast Academy?
To begin, we’ll provide an overview of The Podcast Academy.
The Podcast Academy was founded in 2020 as a non-profit group, where creators and those interested in putting up their own podcast production business could sign up as members.
By joining, a podcast producer can then able to be to contact industry leaders, who can help them all grow their podcasts and make their work even better.
Since the nature of podcasts is always changing and evolving.
The Podcast Academy is constantly evolving and listening to, taking feedback from their members and shaping the group to fit the current trends and interests.
Better yet, this podcast production school is very inclusive, with leadership that is diverse and reflective of the wide audience that podcasting brings in.
Every type of voice is likely to be represented in The Podcast Academy, which helps to keep the group relevant and helpful,
The overall goal of The Podcast Academy is to encourage the podcasting medium.
Through their support of lots of podcast creators, they aim to keep growing podcasting for the better, ensuring that it’s constantly culturally relevant.
By doing this, it brings podcasting an even greater legitimacy.
The more cultural merit that podcasting holds, the better, since it will bring more fans to the medium and inspire even more shows.
What Does The Podcast Academy Offer?
The Podcast Academy offers a wide range of helpful resources, especially in the form of their special programs.
Membership
To join The Podcast Academy, you need to submit a membership application and be approved.
Any person who takes part in the podcast industry is allowed to apply, from professional podcasters to students just getting their start.
Helpfully, students get a 25% discount for joining, with it costing just $75 for their membership.
When you submit a membership application, you have to classify what category you fit into: people in front of the microphone, people working behind the microphone, students, and industry reporters.
These help make it clear about what areas you’re going to be working on improving while you’re a member.
Unfortunately, applicants need to provide a reference. This can either be a Podcast Academy member, or two non-member professionals of the podcasting industry.
This can admittedly be a bit limiting, because not all people who want to join The Podcast Academy will be able to get these references easily – especially those who are relatively new to podcasting.
On a better note, those who are BIPOC, disabled, part of the LGBTQ+ community, and other disadvantaged backgrounds can apply for a member scholarship, offered by Spotify.
This makes it easier to join for those who may not be able to afford the membership.
Once you’ve become a member of The Podcast Academy, you can take part in educational masterclasses and the programs that we’re about to cover.
On top of that, you can get discounts on certain things and enjoy being part of a community of creators all sharing their knowledge.
Mentorship Program
One of the best programs that The Podcast Academy offers is their mentorship program, which can really help to nurture and grow new podcasting talent.
When podcast creators sign up to become members of The Podcast Academy, they can be connected with industry leaders that have all kinds of experience in business and content development.
This is especially true with the Academy’s four month long virtual Mentorship Program.
The organization creates work groups where one industry leader mentor is matched with as many as 6 participants.
Participants might be podcast hosts themselves, or even people involved in the behind the scenes production of podcasts.
Either way, the work group is made to focus on a shared topic that the participants can all learn from.
With the groups containing up to 6 participants for every one mentor, it means that a group of like minded people with similar goals can all get together and share their knowledge and enthusiasm.
Obviously, if there are fewer participants in a group then they will receive even more focused help from the mentor.
The mentorship program is constantly running, with each four-month period allocated to either Spring, Fall, or Spring.
This means that if you miss the window for one period, you won’t have to wait too long for another to come around.
Internship Program
When there are openings, people can apply to The Podcast Academy’s internship program.
This is a very helpful resource that will give successful candidates plenty of practical experience in podcasting, helping to grow and improve their podcast skillset.
On top of that, they’ll get direct mentoring from senior audio leaders, who have a wealth of experience to share and can work on building some relationships and contacts that can then help them advance in the podcasting world.
Better yet, the internship program supports people that are from communities that have been excluded in podcasting in the past – or even now.
Like The Podcast Academy’s mission as a whole, this is driven towards making the podcasting industry an inclusive and diverse place that leaves no voice unheard.
Since people from all backgrounds listen to podcasts, the people producing the podcasts should reflect the same diverse spread.
The internship program is done virtually, making it much more accessible for the participants to have access to all the invaluable help and resources.
The Ambies Awards
The Podcast Academy created the “Awards for Excellence in Audio” (which has been nicknamed the “Ambies”) in order to reward and celebrate podcasts even further.
The Academy wanted to create an independent industry award that rewarded podcasting, much like other areas of entertainment have awards ceremonies.
The Ambies honor podcasting as a singularly unique medium of entertainment, as well as praise its scope for being personal and educational.
Podcasts can entertain and inform us in so many different ways, as well as tell us stories and history that we’ve never encountered before.
The Ambies exist to celebrate this diverse medium, while giving it a greater legitimacy too.
Masterclasses
The Podcast Academy also put on a wide range of masterclasses about podcasting.
These are great ways to teach their members new things about the industry, knowledge which the podcast creators can then use to improve their own content.
All of the topics that masterclasses revolve around are focused on the medium, including how to become a great podcast host, audio editing skills, podcast directories, technical set up, project management, among others.
Most importantly, they are taught by people with knowledge and experience.
Even the most experienced podcast creators will have something to learn at the masterclasses because these events cover topics that are relevant and incredibly valuable to Academy members at all levels of the podcasting industry.
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| $87.20 | $129.00 | $359.00 | N/A |
Event Backlog
Usefully, The Podcast Academy has an online library filled with recordings of their past events.
This means that new members of the organization don’t have to miss out on essential information, because they can simply watch all of the old events.
This means that The Podcast Academy is constantly building up a catalog of brilliant podcasting advice, and it’s all readily available to podcast creators that become members.
Social Events
The Podcast Academy also has regular online social events, where members can come together and share their knowledge of podcasting, helping everyone to learn and improve their own business.
On top of that, these virtual socials also act as a chance to network, with members making important new contacts that they can use to better their own podcasts.
What Does The Podcast Academy Do Well?
As you can see, there is plenty that The Podcast Academy offers.
They’re an incredibly useful organization that brings podcast creators and industry leaders together, allowing them to share knowledge.
Their frequent events help to educate, while their Ambies awards celebrate and legitimize the podcast medium.
What Doesn’t The Podcast Academy Do Well?
The Podcast Academy is a great resource for helping creators improve their own podcast, but it can be a little difficult to become a member. We think that their membership rules could be more open.
Final Thoughts
The Podcast Academy is a very helpful organization that offers resources and mentoring to podcast creators.
